Download - Keele University

keele:FUND
supporting Keele
Keele Key Fund
KICKS OFF!
Alumni Officer John Easom (1981 American Literature and
Culture) explains about the new Keele Key Fund:
In October, Keele University launched the Keele
Key Fund. This is a new long-term approach by
the University to attract new sources of income
to improve student life at Keele. The Keele Key
Fund is focused on six main elements:
Enhancing the Student Experience
Sports, Arts and Leisure
Bursaries and Scholarships
Academic Excellence
Heritage and Environment
Annual Project – Observatory
Forty-four students, mainly second year
undergraduates but also a couple of
postgraduates, telephoned Keele alumni
throughout November. We decided to phone
alumni who attended Keele between 1950
and 1985, plus a couple of later year groups.
All those we aimed to call were sent a letter
in advance from the Vice-Chancellor’s office.
As this was our first campaign we needed a
lot of help so our call room was organised and
supported by experienced consultants. There
has been a truly exceptional response and we
are both surprised and delighted by the scale
and generosity of your support – and of your
interest in and affection for Keele.
Our callers heard about the experiences of their
predecessors at Keele – from the mysteries of
the Foundation Year and the ‘Keele experiment’
to the cosy Huts, from the Declaration of
Independence to the Levitation of the Vice-
Chancellor’s residence and all the fun, frolics and
pranks enjoyed by every Keele generation.
They also discovered how people felt about
remaining connected to Keele, and just how
many people loved Keele – and keep on loving
Keele long after they have left. We all know about
the community at Keele but our callers have
realised that our current students don’t know yet
how much they play a part of a unique lifelong
community dispersed around the country and
the entire world.
In return for memories and offers of donations,
our student callers shared their own enthusiasm
and affection for Keele and expressed how
important it was to provide the best possible
experience for students at Keele now – and in
the future. They were described by veteran call
room supervisor, Greg Hodder of Rux Burton
Associates, as a “fantastic team”, whose skills and
personalities created a better atmosphere
and better outcomes than he has seen at
other universities with longer established
fundraising programmes.
In four short weeks, our callers gained promises
and pledges of at least £132,000 – all of which
will be used for the improvement of Keele as a
place for students to learn, live and enjoy. There
were also a tremendous number of promises from
alumni to remember Keele in their wills.
Thank you to our callers
Asha Patel won the prize for eliciting the highest
value of gifts – over £12,000, or around 9%
of the total. Malcolm Kotwal gained the prize
for the highest giving rate, encouraging over 60%
of the people he called to make a gift. Philip
Bensusan won dual honours – for being the most
enthusiastic team-member and the Devil’s Fork
prize for being the most devilish at the same time!
The Iron Man/Iron Woman honours go to Lindsay
McCargow, Briony Morgan, Joe Bonsor and Fiona
Costley for attending the most shifts.
Philip Bensusan
Verity Biddlecombe
Joe Bonsor
Amina Buba
Gwen Chireka
Fiona Costley
Candice Ferguson
Alex Goucher
Chanelle Hardware
Kayleigh Higgins
Ellie Hooper
Mary Humana
Aisha Karefa-Smart
Laura Knight
Malcolm Kotwal
Layla Laurenson-West
Ian Mahoney
Adam Marsland
Kayleigh Mayhew
Lindsay McCargow
Bhavna Meisuria
Charlotte Miller
Danielle Moore
Dave Moran
Briony Morgan
Sunita Morris
Dave Moseley
Tee Olawumi
Regina Owusu-
Sekyere
Asha Patel
Susie Povey
Temi Pratt
Joel Radiven
Maheshi Samaraweera
Shanny Nawaz
Suleman
Deepe Rawji
Ben Shaw
Salma Sultana
Chelsea Tomlinson
Stephen Uagbale
Maria Walsh
Helen Waring
Tim Watt
Sophie-Beth Williams
Margaret needs
no persuasion
to donate books
A Keele graduate of the
1960s has donated a set of
hardback novels to a current
student so they can be
enjoyed for years to come.
The presentation set of Jane Austen novels
was given to Margaret Stevens (Edwards) (1962
English/German) as a 21st birthday present
while she was studying at Keele, and now, 50
years since she first came to the University,
she decided she would like the books to be
enjoyed rather than sit on a shelf.
The Alumni Office sent an email to all current
English students offering the books to the
first person to reply, and English and History
student Alan Hendley was first off the mark.
The first-year student, who comes from Stokeon-Trent,
said: “I completely love Jane Austen
as I studied some of her books in school. When
I saw the email I literally jumped at the chance,
as owning these books would bring me and
my family lots of joy as we are all fans.”
Margaret, who travelled from her home in
Buckinghamshire to present the novels to keen
poet Alan, said: “I felt sure that the books
would go to the right person and when I met
Alan I knew that they had.”